


Cat

by GreyPezzola



Series: A Study in Synonyms [1]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Gen, Humor, ranger warden
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-17
Updated: 2017-05-17
Packaged: 2018-11-01 08:38:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10918251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreyPezzola/pseuds/GreyPezzola
Summary: “You’re rather feline, you know,” Alistair says one night as they are sitting around the campfire.“I’m rather what?” she shakes her head in confusion.“Feline? Like, you know, a cat?” Alistair clarifies.Sigyn gives him a blank stare, her eyes reflecting back the light of the fire.  “A what?”“A cat,” he repeats himself.  “You don’t know what a cat is?”"No."  And so she endeavors to find a cat. However, it takes a few tries.





	Cat

**Author's Note:**

> Or why one needs to be very precise about descriptions to avoid categorical mistakes. Featuring a dog whose name roughly translates to Fartlord.

“You’re rather feline, you know,” Alistair says one night as they are sitting around the campfire.

“I’m rather what?” she shakes her head in confusion.

“Feline? Like, you know, a cat?” Alistair clarifies. 

Sigyn gives him a blank stare, her eyes reflecting back the light of the fire.“A what?”

“A cat,” he repeats himself.“You don’t know what a cat is?”

She frowns, her eyes shifting as she tries to remember, but then she shakes her head.“Grew up in Orzammar.Unless cats live in underground caves, no.What is a cat?”

It’s his turn to frown, “Well they are—” how does one explain a cat? “They are like Mabari, but smaller and they have longer tails.They also tend to be much grumpier than mabaris.”

“And that is why I am like a cat?” she asks coolly.

“Oh no, no, no.There I go with my words.It’s your eyes! They glow.Like a cat’s.In the dark.” he finishes awkwardly.

“Oh.I will have to try to meet a cat,” she says and it might just be a trick of the light, Maker knows he doesn’t have as good night vision as her, but Alistair thinks he sees her smile.

Alistair forgets that evening and that conversation entirely until one day he is horribly reminded of it.To be fair, the only person who doesn’t seem to be shocked is Morrigan, even Sigyn’s dog will not stop growling when she tells him to, but they all sit and stare at her unsure of what to say.She looks triumphant about the creature that has followed her back to camp.

“Alistair, I finally found a cat,” she says proudly.There is a long moment of silence.

“That isn’t a cat,” Sten finally says bluntly.She cocks her head and pets the damn animal behind its ears.He repeats himself at her questioning look, “That isn’t a cat.”

“Alistair said cats have long tails, reflective eyes, and—” she explains.

“Why has it not bitten you?” Leliana interjects.

“He told me cats are grumpy, it tried, but I was patient.”

“Yes, but—” Alistair says and then he finds he has no words.It has all the qualities he had described to her.Its green eyes reflect in the dark much like hers, it has a long tail, and this one is technically smaller than a mabari.  Though, this one is very small for what it is.

“That’s a wolf,” Sten says.Morrigan can no longer contain her amusement and lets out a soft chuckle.

Sigyn’s face falls.“Oh, but—” she bites her lip, but her hand is still entangled in its fur.“Ancestors tits, I spent the past three nights—” she sighs.

“Cats are much smaller than mabaris and have shorter fur than a wolf.Though it’s still longer than a mabari’s.” Leliana explains calmly, though she has a hand on her bow in case the wolf decides to bite Sigyn’s hand off.“Really Alistair, some cats don’t even have tails.”

“Next time we are in town, we’ll find you a cat,” Alistair says as Sigyn continues to pet the wolf who seems to have taken a liking to her.

She frowns at the beast and ponders her choices.“What should I do about her?” she asks as the wolf looks up at her, mouth slightly open as it pants, sharp teeth very, very close to Sigyn.

“Let her go?” he suggests.

“Can’t.She won’t be able to the bindings off.”

“Oh Maker’s breath!” he swears. Sure enough, one of the wolf’s hind legs has been carefully wrapped.Red blood has seeped through the bandage and Sigyn has miraculously kept all her remaining fingers. “Sigyn, tell me you didn’t walk up to a wounded wolf and tend to its wounds.”

She lets out a short sigh, “I thought it was a cat.”

“I don’t want to know,” Alistair says, as he pinches his nose.

“I do.” Leliana says with a smile.

“We still have a wolf in our midst,” Sten comments.He stands up and crosses over to Sigyn and the wolf.He doesn’t get far before the wolf starts to growl.Sten pauses, “Curious.It does not seem to be actually tame.”

“She’s grumpy,” Sigyn replies.

“She’s a wild animal,” Alistair retorts.“She should really go back to her pack.”

“Pack?”

“Yes, wolves travel in large groups called packs.We’ve fought them before, I—”He pauses, there’s no point in continuing that thought.Sigyn had made an honest and terrifying mistake.“She should really go back to her pack.”

“Do cats also have packs?” she asks.The wolf is still in their camp.

“No, cats tend to be solitary.A few will travel together at any time.But that is normally when they are kittens and their mother is watching over them.” Morrigan finally speaks.She, at least, seems to have a wealth of patience for, or maybe a lack of fear of, Sigyn’s mistake.Sigyn tilts her head and takes a moment to consider this new information.

Then she nods and smiles, “Anything else I should know about cats?”

“They have sharp claws, not blunt like a mabari,” Leliana says hesitantly.

So they end up with a wolf that hangs near their camp.She comes in handy because she seems to get awfully protective of Sigyn and takes personal offense when she notices Sigyn is being attacked.She’s not a permanent fixture; she comes and goes, but she seems to come around whenever Sigyn whistles.And while the appearance of the wolf makes her whistling a bit less soothing, Alistair can’t deny he find her whistling rather endearing.

However, they completely forgot about finding Sigyn a cat the next time they are in town.They do remember when she returns to camp one night, once again cheerfully carrying a squeaking baby animal that is distinctly not a cat.

“I found a cat!” she reports, echoing her words from a little over two months ago.Zevran lets out a surprised string of curses, Wynne clutches a hand to her heart, Leliana starts looking for her bow, and Alistair can only sit and stare in shock.Sigyn’s face falls immediately at their reactions.“This isn’t a cat.”

“No, that isn’t a cat,” Alistair feels a chuckle start to form in his stomach.It’s certainly smaller than a mabari.It too has eyes that glow in the dark.Its claws are sharp, unlike a mabari’s.And surely this creature would be grumpy.It, however, doesn’t have a tail.The chuckle escapes him and he ends up laughing out loud as he points out the lack of tail.

Sigyn sniffs and hefts the beast up higher onto her chest.Alistair notices a blush start climb up her cheeks.“Leliana said that some cats don’t have tails.And this one would technically be a kitten, seeing it’s a baby.”

Alistair laughs again at that, even though he feels a bit bad about doing so.She’s so earnest in her discovery of the surface world and it's refreshing to see her be open about the fact she is learning.

“Where is its mother?” Leliana asks, locating her bow and inching towards it.

“Dead.I found her fussing over her mother's body.” It isn’t struggling against her hold, merely looking around and wiggling in the process. 

“Well, at least we won’t have to worry about a full grown bear crashing our camp.” Zevran says wryly, “Let it be known that you, my dear warden, are full of surprises.”

Alistair finally manages to contain his laughter.He asks, “You going to keep her?”

“She’d die,” is the blunt response.

Raising a baby bear takes some doing, but if having a transient wolf is useful, the bear proves invaluable after she grows up a bit.However, Alistair once again forgets to introduce Sigyn to a cat.It ends up not really mattering because in a small town being sieged by darkspawn, Sigyn finally meets a cat… of sorts.

“That’s a cat?” Sigyn asks flatly, pointing to the cat who is sitting and whipping its tail around in unamused.

“It was a cat.” He clarifies, it at least looked mostly like a cat.

“My eyes do not glow like that.” she says, giving him a look.

“That’s the demon,” he says.Kitty sits there, purple eyes glowing in the dark, looking distinctly displeased.“Please don’t try to adopt this one.You already have a mabari, a wolf, and a bear.”

She rolls her eyes, they have had this conversation before.“I have a mabari, the bear and the wolf aren’t mine.They’ve just taken a shine to me and won’t leave.”

“I only want the girl,” the demon, Kitty, cuts across their discussion.Alistair and Sigyn exchange a look and then she glances at Wynne and Morrigan.Wynne nods and Morrigan looks aloof.

“Do as you will, I have no opinion,” Morrigan responds to Sigyn’s silent question.Sigyn smiles and nods.

So they set to freeing the demon so they can free the girl from its clutches.When they take a break from trying to undo the old magics by recreating the circle from the scattered floor tiles, Alistair notices Morrigan is missing.It’s not uncommon for the witch to wander away when she was bored with their proceedings, so he doesn’t think twice about it.Besides, Wynne is more experienced with summoning circles.

It’s only after they have finished fighting the recently released desire demon trapped within the now very dead cat without the assistance of Morrigan that Alistair starts to wonder where she is.

“Where’s Morrigan?” he asks as they walk back through the caves.Sigyn is helping support the shaken girl and leading the way.

“She said the caves were making her antsy,” Wynne says, “I’m sure she’s just getting some fresh air. Don’t worry, she’s a very competent young woman.”

He supposes that is true, but he’s never known her to not like caves. Maker knows Sigyn had found quite a few of them to use as camp sites early on when they had been avoiding soldiers and darkspawn alike.Morrigan had never complained about their hideouts and this was before he and Morrigan had developed a begrudging respect for each other when she was more prone to complain.

He doesn’t have the time to ponder that train of thought because there is a joyous cry from the girl as she sees her father.A tearful reunion, a wealth of thanks, and the payment of the correct dwarva words activate the golem later, they find themselves back in the village green.The air isn’t exactly fresh as many of the building are still smoldering, but there is no Morrigan enjoying the air, regardless of the quality of it.There is, however, a black and white cat sitting on the fence of the green.It is lazily tapping its tail and, while its eyes do not glow like Kitty’s had, there is something uncanny about its eyes.

“Sigyn, there’s a cat.” Alistair gestures.The cat stands up and before Sigyn has time to get a good look, dashes away. “And it’s gone.”

“I’m sure I will meet more cats.I now know what they actually look like,” she says and pats his arm.

“Just no more bears or wolves,” he says hopefully.

“Not intentionally,” she nods.Alistair hears the distinct lack of promise, but before he can press the matter she says, “But shall we get a golem?”

He nods and they turn to face the large figure. “What do you think will happen?”

“They’re dwarva, but your guess is as good as mine.”

It turns out that Shale, golems have names, is more snarky and jaded than anything else.Sigyn takes it in stride though, she has a lot of experience dealing with snarky.He frowns, thinking about snarky, Morrigan is still missing.

Sigyn lets out a soft gasp of surprise and it’s enough to break him out of his thoughts.The cat from before winds itself around her ankles, chirrups, and then, noticing Alistair looking at it, aloofly stalks off.Sigyn turns to him, eyes wide with something close to joy, “Alistair? Does that mean anything?”

“Maybe, but who knows. Cats can be very finicky like—” his heart plummets— “Morrigan.” He sighs and says her name.

“Whatever have I done now?” Morrigan walks towards them from the building the cat had just disappeared behind.

“Are you telling me that wasn’t you?” he asks incredulously.

“I assure you I have no idea what you are talking about,” she says with a smirk.

“The cat! It had your eyes!”

“Ah, but cat’s eyes glow in the dark, do they not. I am lacking glowing eyes unlike one of our party.” Her smirk widens.

“Do they usually quibble?” Shale asks flatly.Sigyn look up at them and nods. “Delightful.”

“You get used to it,” she reassures the golem.

“Right,” they say.

Alistair catches Morrigan alone a few days later, “Why didn’t you just show Sigyn what a cat looked like?”

“Twas not asked and one does not simply do magic to show a woman the form of a cat,” he scoffs at her words and she gives a smile that could almost be described as fond. “Besides, she is quite talented with the wild for being a child of the stone. It would be a disservice not to foster her exploration of the world.”

“Curiosity killed the cat,” he snips back, though there is no real anger or malice behind his words.

“Then we shall count our many blessings that Sigyn is a dwarf,” he laughs despite himself.Still, her words give him pause.Despite the confusion over what a cat truly was, Sigyn does have a gift.

Later that night as he sits and pets the Lord of Farts, he watches Sigyn go from chatting with Shale to laughing with Leliana and Zevran and it is obvious.She might not know exactly what and who she was always dealing with, but she manages to find strays just like herself and bring them together.Although, hopefully, any new additions will not take the form of large wild animals.

**Author's Note:**

> Did anyone notice Sigyn still hasn't met an actual cat?
> 
> Alistair is going to be in for a nasty surprise when they go to Orzammar and she somehow befriends a giant spider. But no seriously, as much as I loved playing a ranger, being able to call a wolf or a bear to help fight makes no sense. So here is one humorous possible explanation as to how a ranger warden might make such friends.
> 
> Also, Sigyn hides the fact she doesn't know a lot of things about the surface for a long time. She's very calculating, but as she relaxes she gets better at asking about what the hell things are.
> 
> Still team dwarves are not short humans and have tapetum lucidum.


End file.
